Search This Blog

Friday, 20 May 2011

Her Majesty the Queen of England's visit to Ireland has concluded and deemed a diplomatic triumph.

And so far I am inclined to agree, but at the same time breath a sigh of relief that she is gone back to England.

I will not focus too much on the particulars of her visit, but I will comment that small touches such as wearing green upon leaving the plane as well as starting off her key speech with a greeting spoken in Gaelige went a LONG way to endearing the Irish population to her. Her visits were cordial, projected disturbances and protests minimal and non violent (mostly), and hopefully Sinn Fein's misjudging of the public mood over this will upset any progress they make down south.

Now with that said, lets get the elephant out of the room. That elephant being the painfully obvious west-briton sentiment in the Irish media, to which Her Majesty was the darling of the hour.

Do not misunderstand me, I am greatful the visit went so well AND that the media tried pushing the positive effects of the visit (the resulting boom in tourism that this will likely cause plus finally having good stories about Ireland being told in foreign media outlets, confirmed by reports from irish Embassies worldwide. Thank God, nothing good about Ireland being said by foreign newsgroups for near 3 years now), but what disgusted me was their attitude towards their urging, and how aggressive it was. They kept pushing the angle that this was a historic visit (it was), but their slavish devotion to this as well as pushing the 'cultural links with Great Britain' (of which there are innumerable, but not something you want to remind the public about if you plan to make us keen on the British monarchy as the same historical poison taints our view of it and pushing the link of monarchy with Britain wont make the modern Irishman more keen on it) reeked of west-britonism, and it did nothing to convince Irishmen that royalism and monarchism really isn't a 'British' thing. Which does not help the Irish Monarchist cause in any light.

Good relations with Britain is necessary economically and perhaps socially (a great many Irish families have members working across the Irish sea) but the west britonism in the media would have us stop speaking Irish for economic integration and 'cultural exchange' by destroying whats left of Irish culture to improve those relations. Which I will never stand for.

One historian brought before the newscaster at the beginning of the visit commentated on how 'there has always been an undercurrent of royalism in Ireland' of which that is 100% true, but then went on to immediately associate that royalism with britain by using the last visit of a British Monarch to Ireland as her one and only example. Really!? Then what of the jacobites? the war of the three kingdoms? the flight of the earls? The blatant monarchism in Irish Catholicism, the actions of Irish Monarchists on the continent both before and after the flight, THE FACT THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT IN IRELAND BEFORE THE FIRST WORLD WAR WAS DOMINATED BY IRISH DUAL MONARCHISTS AND NOT BY BLOODY REPUBLICANS!?

Oh and never mind the brief reinstatement of the Council of the Chiefs of the Name officially recognised by the Republican Government before a Scandal forced their dissolution, or how every Irishman is descended from ancient Kings, why those crest must be mere decoration, right? No, sure, it only is relevant if we link royalism with the British Royal family and nothing else.

Its not as if any other royal family has links to Ire-oh wait, there was that one Sovereign Prince fellow wasn't there?

To hell with it, I will do it if they would not. I will start digging up resources and Focus on Irish men, both Nationalists and before the rise of Irish nationalism, who were monarchist, royalists or otherwise disassociated with Britain and associated with Monarchism. If only to, if futilely, dispel the myth of Monarchism being a 'British' thing.

Wednesday, 4 May 2011

If there is one aspect of a potential Irish restoration I constantly harp on about as being vital, it is the role of a religious revival in Irish society. And one of the key reasons i've been putting this is off is how incredibly difficult it will be to approach this without coming across as akin to one of those anemic liberals or even some of the more schismatic Catholic elements who say the Church should do this sort or that sort to suit my own interests and sensibilities. That and a fear that my own shambles of a catechizes will discredit whatever I do say.

On top of this is the concern that detractors will point to the heights of Catholicism in Ireland's past and the government cover-ups and the wonton sexual abuses and psychological damage to Irish folk back then crippled us as a society and damaged us to the point of being fascistic automotons. After all, all those famous books written about Irish life back then from liberal leaning authors were completely accurate despite the fact that most of them were absolute fiction bar a few memoirs?

Oh wait terribly sorry, it turns out most of those works have been deeply challenged as inaccurate many times over and are inherently biased. Moving right along then.

It is impossible for me to say exactly why the Catholic Church specifically is necessary for the task of restoration until the role of religion is clarified. In the past Ireland was, ok admittedly, still is a religious country even though it is rapidly becoming secularized. Religiosity defines the Irish character, the Irish Character is, in turn, mocked for its religiosity... and drunkenness, and wife beating, and our odd way of thinking and turn of speech. Whoever said the Irish stopped being acceptable targets in media for comedy? A fool most likely.

Religious revival is neccessary in turning over the dominant Anglo-Americanised culture that has stamped itself across the english speaking world. It is neccessary because with religiosity comes morals and character, inconvenience for politicians and societal rules that are contrary to what has become the norm. The average Irishman and Irishwoman, when they hold deep moral convictions, are going to feel very alien in the dominant, and foreign, culture that surrounds them. And such unifying moral convictions can only come from an organised Religion to inform, preach and uphold them. Should a Religious revival occur across the country, and God willing it does, the dominant anglo-americanised culture will no longer satisfy the Irishman. The west britons calling for a downgrading of the status of Gaelige in Irish institutions and education will sound more and more like the bleating goats they are, an identity crisis will have emerged. We are no longer in the De Valera era and aggressive nationalism is no longer widespread in Ireland but passive nationalistic pride still remains. Well thats what liberals call it, I'd call it cultural pride. As you know, having celtic styled artwork decorating Churches is so 20th century...

The end goal of such a religious revival is of course, if I am forgiven, for thinking of it in politically manipulative terms, is to create real politics, (not to be confused with Real Politik), and by that I mean politicians with backbone, audacity and character. I was extremely mad at Fine Gael handing over the public sector to their Irish labour bedfellows after the general election because it is the perfect example of shameless politics that boils my blood so. If ever I needed reaffirmation of being a Monarchist I need only look south of the Border... or North to Storment. What this achieves is genuine intellectual political conflict to shake the passive Irish mind from its stupor and it is then monarchism can really be spread as an actual alternative amid such a furious storm of political thought brought on by the spread of solid moral values.

The Catholic Church is the perfect institution to achieve this end precisely because it is not an Irish specific institution. A revival of the Catholic Church, (once His Holiness is done with his Reform of the Reform and a couple hundred dozen Inquisitions are completed), will be explosive in Ireland, for one thing most Catholics in Ireland are Lukewarm, on the fence as it were between being a genuinely religious nation or something akin to the average religiosity of Scandinavia. It also helps the Catholic Church still enjoys a predominant position and favoritism of the Irish Government, even if it is unstated. It also helps that Roman Catholicism has a long history of complementing native cultures once conversion has been achieved, (Ireland entered a golden age of intellectual advancement after it converted) although this is not universally true for the cultural identities of some nations who had violent conversions (Lithuania), so the Catholic Church as a worldwide institution not subject to Irish petty politics and governmental chest pounding can wreck merry havoc on the current poisonous cultural attitude in Ireland and set the stage for real challenge and change in Irish politics.

Again, as stated before, for the case of Irish Monarchism, the Catholic Church's position is an immense gamble precisely because it cannot be controlled. If she does not clean house to wipe away the filth of modernist heresies and liberal poisoning of the clerical mind in this country, all it would take would be for a few liberal bishops to condemn the Irish Monarchist movement as 'un-Catholic' to set back the Restoration for 5 decades if we are fortunate. (Then again mind you, there are plenty of faithful clergy in the Catholic Church who are committed republicans even if they are not overtly political, thus increasing the risk of the gamble) The Church need not actively support the movement, all monarchists need for the Church to do is not to oppose us, that leaves one less moral backing for our republican opponents. (and yes as a Roman Catholic I am inherently biased in favor of the Church, but what I say still remains true)

Now with that said and a best case scenario is achieved and a Native Irish Monarchy is restored, it is in my opinion that religion should remain an overt an active part of the Irish lifestyle. Naturally in such a best case scenario the Church itself would handle these matters, so that leaves the public sphere to deal with.

It is the opinion of this monarchist that the Irish Monarchy would recognize religion's role in the public sphere, this will of course mean that non Catholic religions would also be allowed to be active in the public sphere (more on this in subsequent posts on divine supremacy and the toleration of heretics). The Irish Monarchy would by necessity, much like the republican government beforehand, recognize the special role of the Catholic Church as the religion of the overwhelming majority and take account of that. Even going so far as to make it the state religion precisely to emphasis religion's role in monarchy and in the nation as a whole (more on this in the coronation post), the alliance of alter and throne is as old as monarchy itself and even religion, and I see no reason why the Irish Monarchy should be different in this regard. In fact with the added effect of having a strong monarchy with a leashed Dail giving Ireland the benefit of notoriety and prestige int he great family of nations, the establishment of a State religion in today's world would be a flippant and welcome middle finger to the current republican world view and a direct challenge to the republican ideal.

Again, there is no set guarantee that the revival of religion will make Irish minds more susceptible to our many mysterious monarchical machinations, but at the very least it will provide a forum to dispel myths of monarchy being a decidedly 'protestant thing' precisely because any monarchist movement in Ireland as a whole would be overwhelmingly Catholic to begin with.

I) Rex Hibernie. Imperator Scotturum.II) Clans and the Role of the ChurchIII) -- Supplementary post: Divine Supremecy and Tolerance: The Neccessity of State Religion and toleration of HereticsIV) The Legislative Process in an Irish Monarchy- Supplementary Post: Monarchist Economics and Dynamic Politics- The Role of Chieftans and other LordsV) The High Coronation, the true All Ireland Final- The Role of the Council of Chieftans, Dynastic succession issues and legitimacy- The Role of the Church- The Role of the Monarch and the Royal Family- Lords, Statesman and Farmers- Final comments on the CoronationVI) And all the world is a stage... Foreign Relations and the Role of a Monarchical Ireland in Europe and Elsewhere.